You may like Silva, but I dont think you really Silva's a better fighter. There's a reason Machida is in the top5 on nearly every MMA LHW list. Anderson Silva just recently said so himself that the lhw division is Machida's.

There's also a reason Silva isn't in the top ten on most lists, and it's because he's been on the cusp of being knocked out in the first 30 seconds a few times by mid tier fighters.

Machida just makes fighters look like rookies. In the first and second round of the Ortiz fight I don't think Ortiz actually landed more than two strikes...total! Tito's a tough guy to knock out, ad Machida almost did it twice. The flying knee and at the end of the first round Ortiz was in a crucifix getting his face smashed in.

On another note, at the time Franklin fought Machida I think Rich was figting at 205 regularly then, or he had just recently been dropping down to 185.

Sokodju was a top ten fighter. He may have only had five fights but his last two fights were knockouts in the first round over Antonio Nogueira and Ricardo Arona, both of which were ranked in everyone's top ten at the time. Sokodjou in fact is still rated in most top ten lists like MMA Weekly and Sherdog.

I like Silva, and I do think he can be a future champion. His mount is absolutely sick. But in my opinion it's not even debatable to list him above Lyoto and I guarantee at least nine out of ten MMA fans would agree.

mikek32293

7/9/08 9:45:36PM

just watch machida will lose his next match, he almost tapped out to ****** tito!!!

JimiMak

7/9/08 10:53:06PM

Posted by mikek32293

just watch machida will lose his next match, he almost tapped out to ****** tito!!!

he pulled an awesome escape that most of us didn't see coming, I don't know waht would make you say that tho. anyone woulda been surprised by Tito's first ever triangle attempt (in pro comp), but he handled it splendidly.

AnDeRsonDaSiLvA

7/9/08 10:55:48PM

mikek your clearly a troll , try sherdog man. You will get more of the heated responses i think your looking for.

war machida!

MoJoy

7/10/08 2:36:01AM

Posted by juanez13

If i was you, i wouldnt even include Irvin in the list of opponents Thiago has beat, Irvin was schooling him on the feet until he blew out his knee, to me that didnt count as a win for him.....

that leaves Thiago with a win over Houston Alexander, which Irvin finished in 8 seconds.

Finishing fights isnt a way to measure how good a fighter is, is like saying because Guillard finishes opponents and Sherk doesnt, that means Guillard would beat Sherk. The fact is that Machida hasnt lost a single round in any of his fights, and has faced the better competition than Thiago. Doesnt mean Machida is the more skilled fighter, but he is the more proven out of the 2, therefore he is ranked above thiago, as he should be.

What a Beautifully intelligent post. Lovin it.

DPimm

7/10/08 8:15:47AM

OK I pretty much never post, but oh well....

-Machida is not over rated... he is a great technical fighter, and his style presents problems for everyone he fights.

I saw the Ortiz -Machida fight as Dana White's way of handing the torch to Machida... Machida clearly won the fight.

The big problem is, while me and my friends love to watch technical fights.... the avg person does not.

Machida does not put asses in seats! Ortiz did, and would have for several more fights. From business perspective swapping Machida for Ortiz is a net sum loss in terms of ticket sales over the next few fights IMO.

ON the flip side the LHW division can afford to lose Ortiz... it is the most stacked division in the UFC, add to that the Anderson Silva and Franklin are moving up, and it gets even more so.

Thiago Silva needs 1-2 big name wins before he can be considered in the mix at the top of the LHWs. And if those wins are on guys on the way down in their careers... he better be impressive.

and i know ur probably gonna say well thiago hasnt faced any competion.. but he does have wins over houston alexnder and James irvin both in which he finshed the fights. machida has wins over franklin who is a middlewieght penn who is a light wieght and was a very close fight..

his only signifacant light heavy wieght fights are against tito(over the hill, not top ten), soko (maybe top ten but still very unproven), and nakumara.

im not saying thiago has faced better competition but he finishes fights! and machida still hasnt proven to me that he could beat top calliaber light heavies. in my opinion he would lose to chuck, rampage, hendo, thiago, wandy, anderson, shogun, and verra.

Finishing fights does not determine your rank. Its the opponents you beat. Your opinion sucks and is no longer valid to anyone. Quit nutt-hugging.

CornishMMA

7/10/08 12:46:05PM

OMG has nobody posted a FAIL pic in this thread?

Soku was ranked around #6 so the win over him gets him ranked. WTF has Thiago done yet? He didnt beat Irvin and he just struggled a bit with Mendes. No way in hell should he be ranked above Machida this is just mental

Worst FIGHTER A is better than FIGHTER B thread ever

Aaronno9

7/10/08 1:39:56PM

Posted by luke420187

There's also a reason Silva isn't in the top ten on most lists, and it's because he's been on the cusp of being knocked out in the first 30 seconds a few times by mid tier fighters.

Well you could say that about Machida to, he was pretty close to being subbed by a washed up tito, who didnt have a Jits game in his prime anyways. Just saying. Everybody gets caught, props for machida for escaping the triangle, props to silva for recovering and beating Mendes up.

I think machidas the better fighter though, and i have him ranked higher